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Topic: Arctic Frost / Orange Frost Satsuma? (Read 1976 times)

Can anyone comment on the flavor of Arctic Frost and Orange Frost Satsuma, and perhaps compare them to Miho Satsuma?

I live in west central Louisiana on the 8b/9a line, and am currently growing 6 varieties of Satsuma's (3 mature 20+ year old 12-15 ft tall trees in 2 varieties, and 3 early varieties (St Ann, Louisiana Early, and Armstrong Early)that have been in the ground for about 3 years, ) along with a meyer's lemon, and a CaraCara orange, that are also 2-3 years old. Being quarantine state I have limited selection of citrus available, generally being limited to the offerings from 2 citrus nurseries, one of which just introduced Arctic Frost and Orange frost to the state, the other is working on Miho's but they will not be ready for another year at least. I would like to plant some more citrus, but as you might imagine I am running out of sheltered locations, as well as places close enough to the house to run electricity for christmas lights, etc.

Which leads to the current question, how is the taste of the above mentioned varieties, and are they worth growing as a backup in case of a once in 50 year super freeze? I have ample space for more trees, just not in sheltered locations.

I have a couple of Arctic Frost trees of the deck. I have had them two summers and one of them has a two fruits.I'm anxious to see how the fruit taste this year.I bought the trees for their purported freeze resistance. I love my Meyer's but I'm tired of the cold weather struggle.I have noticed the Arctic Frost is not very prolific compared to the Meyer. With the Meyer I'm used to having baskets of fruit, not the few I see on the Arctic Frost. Maybe it will bear more fruit next year.

A little bland (more so than a Satsuma from a young tree), often 1 or 2 seeds, but otherwise not bad. If we're talking flavor subtleties it probably takes a bit more after a tangerine than a Satsuma (which I don't think is particularly a good thing). Pretty much like a regular mandarin though maybe a little on the subpar side.

Isaac-1, is a hoop house a possibility during the worse parts of the winter ? I have a similar situation but I donít have room in my yard at home. Really I donít have permission from my boss. She rules the home and does a great job but she does not share my weakness for citrus ! You can heat and cool a temporary hoop house during the winter months for a somewhat reasonable amount of money I think. I know people that do and they love their hobby. The hoop house can get very hot on pretty days in winter. You have to be able to open doors on the ends and raise the sides too on bright sunshine days.

Citrus expert Dr. Arlie Powell told me it was possible to have about 50 Meyer lemons on a container grown mature Meyer. He was talking about 1/2 whiskey barrel and a grafted dwarf Meyer several years old. A 25 gallon container can be managed with careful planning and it would be possible to move to a protected place on short notice for brief periods of time.

The fruit is decent, but when first peeling the Arctic Frost it gives off an odd sour odor. Mine this year are quite sweet from a bigger container grown tree. It has 20+ fruits. Not more cold tolerant than a regular Satsuma in my experience and easily stressed when transplanting. Not vigorous.

Can anyone comment on the flavor of Arctic Frost and Orange Frost Satsuma, and perhaps compare them to Miho Satsuma?

I live in west central Louisiana on the 8b/9a line, and am currently growing 6 varieties of Satsuma's (3 mature 20+ year old 12-15 ft tall trees in 2 varieties, and 3 early varieties (St Ann, Louisiana Early, and Armstrong Early)that have been in the ground for about 3 years, ) along with a meyer's lemon, and a CaraCara orange, that are also 2-3 years old. Being quarantine state I have limited selection of citrus available, generally being limited to the offerings from 2 citrus nurseries, one of which just introduced Arctic Frost and Orange frost to the state, the other is working on Miho's but they will not be ready for another year at least. I would like to plant some more citrus, but as you might imagine I am running out of sheltered locations, as well as places close enough to the house to run electricity for christmas lights, etc.

Which leads to the current question, how is the taste of the above mentioned varieties, and are they worth growing as a backup in case of a once in 50 year super freeze? I have ample space for more trees, just not in sheltered locations.

I picked an Arctic Frost fruit today. I don't know if i picked it too early. It was colored orange almost entirely.As someone pointed out, it does have a unpleasant smell when peeling. The smell I would describe as a very bitter citrus peel oil. My tree is only in it's second summer on my deck. The taste of the young tree fruit was very unremarkable. Very little citrus flavor. The flavor could be described as watery.Hopefully as the tree matures, the flavor will get better. Unless the fruit makes a dramatic improvement, I don't think this variety will remain on my deck.